CAROL: Well, I have a stone fireplace[2] and above the opening it’s – over the years, it’s gotten, you know, the soot and the black on the stones and I was wondering if there was a cleaner or a solution that I could use to clean the stone?

TOM: I would say two things. First of all, OxiClean[3] would probably work very well for that.

CAROL: OK.

TOM: OxiClean is like an oxygenated bleach. It’s a really good household cleaner; it’s got a million uses and that’s probably the best product. Very easy to find that in home centers and hardware stores. I would use that to clean the stone.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And I would keep – you know, I would keep whatever I’m using to clean it in one bucket and then I’d keep a bucket of clean water and I would kind of use not a very heavy sort of scrub brush but I’d use a good scrub brush that’s not going to fall apart, to give me just a little bit of abrasion to help get rid of the – it’s almost even like a greasy film that you end up with.

CAROL: OK.

TOM: Yeah, make sure that you’re careful with the – you know, with the process so you don’t get that water with the bleach in it on rugs or anything like that that you’re going to lose the finish on.

CAROL: Very good. I will try that. Thank you so much. I do appreciate it.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.